News Releases

Oak Ridge, Tenn. – Feb. 18, 2011 -- Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley®-based Nucsafe is doing its part to assure the safety of the final Space Shuttle Discovery mission scheduled for later this month.

NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of critically wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is scheduled to command the mission.

Knoxville/Oak Ridge, Tenn. – Jan. 25, 2011 -- With an estimated $10 billion of projects on the horizon, the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley® finds itself at the epicenter of a rebirth of nuclear power research and construction.

“Companies are expanding their presence here, others are establishing one,” said Jesse Smith, director of technology for the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley regional economic development group.

Smith points to several recent developments as signs the region is at the forefront of renewed interest in all things nuclear:

Knoxville/Oak Ridge, Tenn. – A local renaissance in classical, opera, jazz and folk music supports the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley® claim as “Tennessee’s Other Music Capital.”

Knoxville has become hip, and that’s good news for the region’s quality of life and for the economic development community’s efforts to recruit new businesses and retain young professionals and recent college grads.

Knoxville/ Oak Ridge, Tenn. – Aug. 6, 2010 -- A flurry of new jobs, corporate expansions and business construction indicates a surge in economic momentum across the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley of East Tennessee.

Existing industrial parks as well as new research and development parks coming online were in the news:

Melaleuca, maker of cleaning supplies as well as nutritional and personal care products, expanded its distribution facility in Forks of the River Industrial Park to 220,000 square feet, clearing the way for 500 new jobs.